How to Make Goat Milk Butter Without a Separator

By Shirley N. Bliley
Published on July 1, 1978
article image
PHOTO: MICHAEL E. BLILEY
Shirley N. Biley's homemade goat butter (made sans separator) comes out of her butter mold.

Everyone knows you can’t get meaningful amounts of cream from goat’s milk without a fancy separator . . . certainly not enough cream to yield butter. I “knew” this too, but being a butter lover from way back — and being the owner of two does that give a gallon of milk per day each — I (quite naturally) wanted to take a stab at whipping up some “goat butter.” I didn’t intend to give up without a fight.

The first thing I did to prepare myself for my “impossible” task was read up on buttermaking in general. Three books that I found especially helpful were: [1] Rodale’s Stocking Up, [2] Irma S. Rombauer and Marion R. Becker’s The Joy of Cooking and [3] Making Homemade Cheeses and Butter by Phyllis Hobson.

From the information contained in these guides — and through a fair amount of trial and error in the kitchen — I ultimately succeeded in developing a simple, dependable method for making butter from goat’s milk, without the aid of a separator. Here’s what you do:

Strain one gallon of fresh milk into a clean, shallow, large pan and allow the container to sit — uncovered and undisturbed — in your refrigerator for 24 hours. The next day, take the pan from the fridge and — with a large spoon — carefully skim off the cream that has risen to the top and store it in the refrigerator in a sterile, tightly covered jar. (The skim milk can be used in cooking, in cottage cheese or as a tasty treat for your livestock.)

Note: So far, I’ve had no problem with “off flavors” in my milk or cream. As long as your utensils and refrigerator are reasonably clean, you shouldn’t have any trouble either. Just don’t store garlic or onions next to the milk.

Repeat the foregoing procedure on a daily basis until you’ve accumulated one pint of heavy cream in your jar. This should take about five days if you skim a gallon of milk per day. (Naturally, if you use two gallons of milk and two large pans, you can cut this time in half.) When you’ve collected a pint of cream, you’ll be ready to make butter.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368